Scheduled Flight Time: 7 HoursOn Schedule? Departed 20 minutes late and arrived about the same. In the air for about 6 1/2 hours.

Frequent Flyer Program:

Emirate’s Frequent Flyer program is Skywards, and they have a partnership with Qantas, Alaska, JAL, Jet, JetBlue, Korean Air, South African Airways, TAP Portugal, and Virgin America.

Check-in & Baggage:

Check-in was so easy; I had made a mistake with my ticket and thought it was 2 hours earlier than it was. So I ended up at the airport some 5 hours before my flight. But they let me check in – naturally without a queue in sight – and you have 30kg baggage included with your ticket, which is quite generous.

Meal Service:

There’s a lot of aspects to the service of Emirates that make them world class. One such aspect is making economy passengers feel as comfortable and as welcome as those in the other classes. For instance, they offer champagne to economy passengers for $15, with other options served complimentary. You get menus just after take off, and enjoy a hot dinner (fish or chicken, unless pre-ordered otherwise) and a continental breakfast served about 90 minutes before landing. They have some instant cup noodles available on request, and given the late hour of the flight, lights remained dimmed for dinner, ensuring you could sleep through it if you so wished. With an 8am arrival in Australia, and only 7 hours of flight time – it’s a choice many would make.

In-Flight Entertainment:

Emirates offer gate-to-gate ICE entertainment on the back of their seats with “over 2000 channels”. It’s all in a large touch screen with a handset for games, phone calls and easy audio access. There are live news updates throughout the flight and a massive Disney selection for the kids, including just about every Pixar feature. One thing that’s of note is how easy it was to scroll through a movie – often something that serves as quite difficult on a flight. There’s no power for plugs in seats C, D and H, but there is USB power. Keep that in mind when booking your seat!

Comfort:

The seats are comfortable, with decent leg room and large pouches for all your stuff. They provide you with a hot towel before take off, as well as do not disturb stickers – which you can put on your seat if you don’t want to be fed. The starry sky ceiling is a nice touch, especially for this night flight.

Customer Service:

I was very impressed by the airline’s service – they were quick to attend to everyone and always courteous. They allowed people to move seats prior to takeoff, which is a rare thing, and as mentioned before were quite amenable to my early check in.

About your Departure Airport, Singapore:

Emirates departs from Terminal 1. If you don’t have lounge access, I recommend the $12 shower at the Wellness Oasis, which goes down a treat for an early arrival. Meanwhile, the 24 hour food court serves up plenty of $5 hawker dishes to keep you well fed. Not the best in town, but they do the trick at the right price. Getting through this airport is among the easiest in the world. There’s no security until you’re ready to board the flight, for starters – but that does mean you need to get to your gate on time! Given how much there is to do at the fantastic airport, that is often easier said than done…